France to try Chinese captain of Russia ‘shadow fleet’ vessel

AFP | Paris

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A French court is to try the Chinese captain of a tanker from Russia’s “shadow fleet” early next year after it was intercepted off France, prosecutors said yesterday, in a move seen as a message to Moscow over its efforts to skirt Western oil sanctions.

The French navy on Saturday stopped the Boracay, a vessel claiming to be flagged in Benin and blacklisted by the European Union for being part of Russia’s sanction-busting “shadow fleet” of ageing oil tankers, according to the public prosecutor’s office in the northwestern city of Brest.

The vessel was investigated over inconsistencies in where the tanker was officially registered while it was carrying a “large cargo of oil” from Russia to India, it added.

The captain and first mate of the Boracay were detained on Tuesday over refusing to provide evidence of nationality or cooperate with French authorities, the prosecutor’s office said.

The captain has been told to appear in court in February, but the first mate has been released, it said. It was not immediately clear if the captain would be released under certain conditions or if the Russia-linked ship could go on its way.

Shipping data has shown it was positioned off Denmark during mysterious drone flights over the country last month, including over military sites, that prompted brief closures at several airports.

French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday urged Europe to “increase the pressure” on Russia’s shadow fleet and follow his country’s lead in detaining vessels used to fuel Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

“You kill the business model by detaining, even for days or weeks, these vessels and forcing them to organise themselves differently,” Macron told a leaders’ gathering in Denmark.

He said on Wednesday France was probing the ship for “serious offences”, but stopped short of confirming reports of a connection to the Denmark drone flights.

French military personnel remained on board the tanker yesterday, another military source who spoke on the condition of anonymity said.